Years ago, I found myself sitting in law school in Moot Court wearing an oversized itchy blue suit. It was a horrible experience. In a desperate attempt to avoid anything like that in the future I enrolled in a tax course. I loved it. I signed up for another. Before I knew it, in addition to my JD, I had a LL.M Taxation. I needed only to don my cape…. taxgirl® was born. Today, I live and work in Philadelphia, PA, one of the best cities in the world (I can't even complain about the sports teams these days). I landed in the City of Brotherly Love by way of Temple University School of Law. While at law school, I interned at the estates attorney division of the IRS. At IRS, I participated in the review and audit of federal estate tax returns. I even took the lead on a successful audit. At audit, opposing counsel read my report, looked at his file and said, “Gentlemen, she’s exactly right.” I nearly fainted. It was a short jump from there to practicing, teaching, writing and breathing tax.

The IRS, The Refund Process and That Pesky 1121 Code

Tax season officially kicked off on January 31, 2014, and the Internal Revenue Service has reported that it’s off to a “strong start” having already issued “millions of refunds worth billions of dollars.” Taxpayers and tax preparers alike have been touting how quickly refunds are being processed and, for the most part, it appears to be smooth sailing. Assuming that everything goes as planned, the IRS hopes to issue nine out of ten refunds to taxpayers in less than 21 days after the IRS receives the return.

However, not everyone is finding the refund process to be a piece of cake.

As I reported earlier, a number of taxpayers are having difficulty pinning down the status of their refund. Those experiencing delays are finding that they have a few things in common:

The “Where’s My Refund?” tool originally showed an anticipated refund date of 2/6/14;

The “Where’s My Refund?” tool now shows code 1121; and/or

Taxpayer claimed Earned Income Tax Credit.

It’s worth clarifying that not all taxpayers who are experiencing errors and delays fit that profile. Some taxpayers report only one or two of the three, while others may not have any of those scenarios. However, the majority of complaints being reported to date from taxpayers and tax preparers tend to fit that profile.

I reached out to IRS to find out more. Initially, there wasn’t a whole lot of information but then, it’s still early in the season. Today, the IRS specifically addressed the 1121 code issue, saying simply that they are aware of the situation and advised taxpayers to “continue checking Where’s My Refund for an update. If we need more information to process their return, we will contact them — usually by mail.” The IRS stressed that this does not mean that taxpayers are being automatically audited (as was the rumor).

The 1121 code traditionally does mean that there is a problem. It’s not a code for a very specific problem such as 1441 (SSN, ITIN or Name mismatch with SSA/IRS) or 1461 (refund check not delivered by the Postal Service) and could be related to a number of issues.

I also reached out to the folks at Intuit because a significant proportion of the taxpayers experiencing errors who had contacted me used TurboTax software. I figured that was likely because TurboTax has a large market share and tended to serve a lot of early filers overall but wanted to confirm that there was no glitch. Julie Miller, a spokesperson for TurboTax, said that they have seen an uptick but “have no data that leads us to believe this is specific to TurboTax.” The IRS has not reported any specific tie to TurboTax or any specific tax preparation software or provider.

Instead, Miller suggested, some of the problems might be the result of the IRS tightening fraud controls around EITC. That was exactly the answer I was hearing from others in the industry, including tax preparers. It’s been posited that IRS has implemented an additional screen for detecting fraud. Since EITC has been tagged as a high-fraud tax item, it’s not unlikely that the two would be related.

I asked IRS whether additional screens might be affecting refunds. They confirmed on their site today that “some refunds take longer because of other factors, including IRS work to prevent refund fraud and identity theft.” You can draw your own conclusions.

For their part, the IRS also says that “as part of our effort to prevent improper payments some tax returns take longer to process than others for many reasons, such as when a return includes errors, is incomplete, or needs further review.” That’s to be expected this tax season as Congress increased pressure on the agency to collect more tax revenue and issue fewer fraudulent refunds.

If you’ve been affected – or if you’re getting ready to file – keep a few things in mind:

Check Social Security numbers carefully. Miller did say that some TurboTax customers have received an IRS rejection for the mismatched Social Security number for a qualifying child for EITC. If this applies to you, TurboTax has posted to their live community how to resolve the error.

Check direct debit and routing numbers carefully. The IRS cannot deposit money into accounts that do not exist.

Confirm your mailing address. This is especially important if you’ve moved in the last year and you use a pre-filled form or import information from last year’s tax return.

Finally, as Miller points out, it’s important to separate an e-filing reject from refund delays. If a return isn’t getting through the processing system, that’s a bit different from a delay specific to a refund. Check the “Where’s My Refund?” tool with IRS, and take note of any messages or codes. If the IRS advises you to call or if you get any correspondence in the mail, contact the IRS directly – and not your software provider.

It’s still early in the season yet (62 days until April 15). Hopefully, things will get easier as we move along. I will continue to update you on refund information, filing glitches and other information important to taxpayers as it becomes available.

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Ya right return was accepted on the 1st, using HR Block, efile and direct deposit, get the same amount back every year, and as of today ho hum ho hum still waiting, and waiting and waiting. Maybe one day but not to day the Gov. will stop their lies to us.

You were absolutely lied to. People with this error are seeing this on their refunds

846 Refund Issued 2-24-2014 841 Refund Cancelled 2-24-2014

after the original deposit date of 2-6-14. So how did the IRS alter documents and then travel into the future to cancel refunds? In many cases they even credited a person’s account and then cancelled the refund. Do better research!

Those are the transaction codes showing on the account transcripts from the IRS. Everyone who gets the 1121 on Where’s my Refund has those codes on their transcripts. Refund Issued, Refund Cancelled. :( Getting desperate over here

Malevian76 is correct – after seeing that my refund was accepted, approved, and sent on the WMR website I woke up to nothing in my bank account. Checked WMR and it then read: Take Action! There MAY be a delay and to reference code 1121. Well, obviously there is a delay. I have called IRS 3 times since as my WMR page still says to take action and call. Each time I was told something different. First call, the rep had no idea what it meant and asked to call back later. Second call, I was told I was being audited to wait for a letter, Third call just yesterday I was told Im not being audited but that I need to allow until mid March for my return to process. Why cant we get a straight answer? What Malevian is referencing is our tax transcripts. You can see clearly that our refunds were issued with an 846 code and cancelled with the 841 code and my dates show 2/24 as well. I wish we would get a clear answer as to what is going on. Don’t tell someone they have funds on teh way then cancel at last minute and expect everyone to keep quiet….What a mess. FYI: My income was $1k too high to qualify for EIC so not sure why I would be reviewed at all.

I question the accuracy of the transcripts. I never knew about the transcript codes until this year because I never had a reason to start trying to figure things out until now. For 2013, it is showing that the IRS hasn’t received a return for me although the WMR shows received (I have read that many people are in the same boat so no idea what it means.) I started poking around at previous years and they all show that the IRS received my return on 4/15 and my refund was issued on 5/5. Every year shows the same dates. The really interesting part is that I file every year in January and have always gotten my refund in February. As of right now, I have been sitting on received since 1/30 when my return was supposedly accepted early. I don’t have any error codes and I was never given a refund estimated date from the WMR, but I did file the EITC.

As to the issues not being linked to TurboTax directly, I’m not entirely sure I believe them. If I go to their RefundTracker, it says that 0% of their filers have received a return. I posted a question on their forum asking how this percentage is determined, but have yet to get a response. If it’s updated only by TurboTax filers then I can see where it might not be accurate, but if it’s feeding off their own system and they get updates from the IRS as to when a return has been accepted, approved and then a refund issued, then something is definitely awry. Since they were the ones who emailed me when the IRS accepted my return early, I’m assuming they do get feedback from the IRS directly, but since they haven’t answered my question, I can’t be sure.

Thanks malarian76, I have heard about the 570. That’s a specific error that I’m familiar with (and usually means there’s another account issue, not a simple error). Do you have any other letters or numbers after your codes?

Thank God I’m not the only one, I am in the same boat as you Candy! Thank you for this article, and I hope everybody gets their refunds soon, especially those who are counting on it for whatever reason!

I realize that they have no control over what is done with it, but I was wondering if they get feedback from the IRS when returns move into different stages such as approved, refund sent, etc. Basically, I’m wondering what the percentage in their RefundTracker app is based on; a direct feed from the IRS or customer input.

I also find the date discrepancies in my IRS transcripts to be interesting. I would think things like when they actually received my return and when they issued the refund to be accurate and not so blatantly wrong. I’ve been efiling since 1995. If the dates were off by a few, it wouldn’t be that odd, but they are obviously putting my filing date as the deadline of 4/15 and then using the same 5/5 date for the refund issuance. Both are months away from the actual dates.

The 570 code on my transcript is listed as $0.00 – showing I have no offsets if I’m interpreting this correctly. There is not a 570 on any of my other years transcripts. I do not have any outstanding debts that would interfere with my return and I caled the treasury department hotline to be sure.

I used Turbo Tax and was accepted on the 25th and Im showing 0% have received return as well. One would think Turbo Tax would have more knowledge of what is happening here. I got the same “I don’t know” from them when I called.

as to the issues not being linked to TurboTax directly, I’m not entirely sure I believe them. If I go to their RefundTracker, it says that 0% of their filers have received a return

i agree, irs website said that i was due my refund 2/12/2014 it’s not there yet. i’ve never had any issues. i’m waiting till tomorrow and if it’s not there again i’m calling turbo tax. this has been a night mare this year sucks and i got screwed out of the child tax credit cause my daughter turned 17 dec 30th can you believe that?? 1 day screwed me out of a thousand dollars. yet people who make way more than i do get away with not paying their fair share. it’s no wonder why people hate tax season!

I’ve worked for the irs for over 25 years. There is nothing wrong with the dates on your transcripts. Your return received date, if it’s a timely filed 1040, will always say 4/15(whatever due date year is) that is only important because of interest calculations. You get interest after 45 days But it’s 45 days from 4/15 not the day your return was actually accepted.

Your refund date is contained in the doc locater # of the refund, it’s the 6th thru 8th digits in any of your transcripts. If your refund date in the computer would be logged in as when it was mailed, say feb 14th, then it could screw things up with any interest calculations should your refund be returned as undeliverable or cancelled by the irs then reissued. You’re sounding like you are seeing a conspiracy theory where there is nothing but bookkeeping methods.

How on earth is not qualifying for a credit Because you legally don’t qualify for the credit getting screwed???? It has to do with the age of your exemption on the last date of the year and she was too old, end of story. Conversely there are people that had a baby born on 12/31 and that died on 12/31 yet they still get the exemption, although I’m sure they, and all of us, would much rather that they had their baby instead.

There are many many codes for the “where’s my refund” tool. None of them mean much of anything to those of us that work for the irs, it’s the actual computer codes that matter. Due to more and more id theft and fraud issues with tax returns, the computer systems are programmed to catch more of it based on trends. Unfortunately some innocent people fall in to these refund holds which sadly makes up for hundreds of cases I work every year.

The irs legally has until 45 days after the return’s due date to refund your money without interest. Most people that file early get their refunds much faster but a lot of them file before all of their income information is in and then need to amend the return and amended returns won’t get filed this year for 16 weeks or more.

The tax law requires 501(c)(4) organizations to operate exclusively to promote the “public welfare.” In 1959 the IRS edited their tax codes to only require that they mostly promote the public welfare. This loophole has allowed political activists to assume that they can spend up to 49% of their budgets on political ads, while still maintaining tax-exempt status that allows them to keep their donors secret. This massive loophole was never authorized by Congress! The current version of the Revenue Act of 1913 provides a tax exemption for: Civil leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare or local associations of employees, the membership of which is limited to the employees of a designated person or persons in a particular municipality, and the net earnings of which are devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes. 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(4)(A)(emphasis added) Then in 1959, under the Eisenhower administration, the IRS illegally redefined the word exclusively so the term “promotion of social welfare” to depart radically from the statute: [a]n organization is operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare if it is primarily engaged in promoting in some way the common good and general welfare of the people of the community. An organization embraced within this section is one which is operated primarily for the purpose of bringing about civic betterments and social improvements. ENFORCEMENT: Isn’t one Holder’s job to see that Federal Laws are enforced? What about our famous Supreme Court; do they only meddle in things that piss the people off without doing their real job of law interpretation? FIX THE PROBLEM The current administration needs to fix the problem and the only way to fix it legally is to eliminate any policy written by the Eisenhower administration and the IRS and insist the IRS enforce the law as written in 1913. This is a very simple solution and one that the people will accept. President Obama already signed the Farm Bill that favors those in Congress and Insurance Carriers while turning his back the poor people in America. Will he continue to screw over the people he is sworn to serve?

The Obama administration and New York’s senior senator, Democrat Chuck Schumer, are conspiring to muzzle their political opponents before fall’s midterm elections, and to literally outlaw free speech. They are rushing through a change in IRS regulations that would prevent tea party organizations and other not-for-profits, called 501(c)(4)s, from engaging in customary pre-election activities, such as get-out-the-vote drives, debates and forums, and distributing brochures that rate candidates. The regulation would even prohibit these groups from criticizing incumbent officeholders within 60 days of a general election. This regulation would destroy fair elections. It would silence 501(c)(4)s, many of which support Republican causes, while imposing no restraints on labor unions, the shadow army of the Democratic Party, which are exempt. They will be free to use phone banking, door-to-door canvassing, and advertising for their candidates, while tea party groups will be gagged. It’s like letting one football team suit up for the game while barring the rival team from wearing shoes or helmets. Schumer laid out the plan in a speech on Jan. 23. He bashed tea partiers as “a small but extreme part of America,” called their commitment to smaller government “quack medicine,” and said their “undue power” and “stranglehold over our politics and policies” must be broken. He said, “It is clear we will not pass anything legislatively as long as the House of Representatives is in Republican control, but there are many things that can be done administratively by the IRS … ” The proposed IRS regulation Schumer is advocating would trample the Constitution’s guarantee of free speech and assembly. Moreover, it far exceeds how federal law allows the IRS to constrain the political activities of nonprofits. In short, it is a lawless attack on political speech.

Jurban, nothng you have written is true. You are 100% wrong, not sure if that point is getting across since it’s obvious from what you have written that you have no understanding of tax law, no understanding of charitable organization rules and you are clearly not seeing that political groups of any kind were never intended to qualify as a charity. That doesn’t mean you still can’t give your money to them and it doesn’t mean they can’t function as a political group.

It means THEY DON”T QUALIFY AS A CHARITY BECAUSE THEY EXIST TO PRIMARILY ENGAGE IN POLITICAL ACTIVITIES AND NOT AS SOCIAL WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS!! There are hundreds of different acceptable codes that organizations can qualify under. Political activities is currently not one of them. They are trying to bend or break the law and that is it!

The irs isn’t constraining anything, these groups can collect all the money they want to further their side of the politiical arena, they just have to pay taxes on that money they take I and the people that donate to them can’t take their donations as a legal deduction, that’s it. Congress made the law not the irs. The irs enforces laws, whether the tea party likes the law or not. From what I read they don’t like any part of government and any laws.

I to am apart of this reference 1121 club with no answers from 4 different IRS Reps.all with different responses, I received an email on 02/07/2015 stating funds deposited then all of a sudden an hour later they money was gone, I pulled my transcript to find the following:

846 Refund Issued 2-24-2014; 841 Refund Cancelled 2-24-2014 really how is this we have not even made it to 02/24/2014 today is 02/13/2014. Ewwww but I pay my taxes on ever pay check I earn without hesitation.

after the original deposit was said to be 2-6-2014 but changed to 02/07/2014. So how did the IRS alter documents and then travel into the future to cancel refunds? In many cases they even credited a person’s account and then cancelled the refund.

Yeah well I filed my taxes through TAXACT on Jan. 12,2014 and still haven’t received my refund. Everyone else I know who filed after I did got their refund already?? Should of used H&R Block again because I have never had to wait this long and it’s a simple return!

This isn’t the only issue going on. If you view any tax preparers social pages, you will see just how many people are in limbo at the moment, me included. I filed my taxes with Tax Act on Jan.26th, I knew that the IRS didn’t open until the 31st; however, with my husband deployed and me taking care of our three children, I was just looking to get it done and out of the way. On Jan.29th, I received a text and email that the IRS decided to take so many efiles as part of their early batch and mine was accepted by the IRS on 1/29. The email stated that we wouldn’t receive any information until after the IRS opens on 1/31. Well, today is 2/14 and I’m still sitting on processing with a DD of “Within 21 days.” I called last week and spoke with an agent from the IRS, and she told me that there was a “Glitch” with the “early” batch and they had to be resequenced as a result and that it should not be much longer. Well after not seeing a DD yet or being able to order my transcripts, I called back yesterday. An agent told me that (after reviewing my account for about 5 min.) that my efile was chosen for further review, and he looked over it and there seems to be not one error or problem on it. He stated that I should receive my refund by the end of the month. Now, looking at other postings on social pages, it appears that this is the same story that others are also receiving. Something just doesn’t seem right here. And by the way, I have no error codes on mine at all, only the 152 code which is just stating how the refund will come. I am a patient person; however, getting the run around when its money that is ours, just isn’t cool at all. God for bid if we owed them money, they’d be knocking the doors down and would not accept some BS excuse or lie.

biggest lesson you should take from this is you should never file before the date the irs says they will accept returns. This gums up the system and generally the first passes of the computer processing can have mistakes and problems.

2nd, your delay could be caused by the fact that some of your income information may not have been reported by the payers to the irs yet so the irs’s system could show you are claiming wages or credits that they don’t think you have, hence the delay. Some of the dates used on the system are projected dates because they will go through with the next computer update of your account.

I didn’t expect my efile to be submitted to the IRS UNTIL the 31st. TaxAct said they would submit it first thing on 1/31. So it was a shock to me that they submitted it that early. And as a military family we always file early and never have issues, the minute his W2 is up we usually go and get it done.

you wouldn’t get codes on wheres my refund? the codes are in your transcripts you order online or by mail. Everyone has the tt152 so just because you have no codes or news on wmr does not mean you do not have a code and most likely you got one since you are in limbo and no money. I mean isn’t it obvious? So look at your TRANSCRIPTS not the stupid wmr site that tell you the same thing it tells everyone. lol

Every time I sign my tax forms I question how the government could expect that I was honest with my calculations when there are thousands of rules and codes that even tax lawyers often interpret incorrectly. Readers digest is so good at cutting novels down to size, perhaps they should be sub contracted to rewrite the IRS codes.

At this point I would be happy to get an 1121 code or any updates at all, I filed my tax return back in mid January with H and R Block and received my confirmation that my return has been received on February 1st….and then nothing. It has been sitting on the first step “Received” for two weeks now, my nephew who filed at the same time already has his refund and a friend who only filed last Saturday already has a Direct Deposit date. I’ve tried to call the IRS to ask if there is any issues but all they will say is, “Your refund has been received and is being processed, wait 21 before you call back.”

new IRS group that had deposits for 2-6 but woke up to code 1121 please post updates and status no trolls or BS on msg board you experience and facts only please. https://www.facebook.com/groups/club1121/

Apparently, with this kind of process being implemented, it becomes easier to fall into the tricks of some digital fraudster. I received an official looking email stating that “After the last annual calculation of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of 493.24 GBP,” with every little bit of identification of the sender pointing towards hmrc.gov.UK – I am just patiently waiting to see this in the news. It is a laughing matter for me as I believe I have not done a UK transaction in at least 1 decade already.